If You Wait
by awaywiththepixies
Summary: Kensi & Jack's daughter goes horse riding one day & is in a terrible accident. Kensi hears about a man that is a horse whisperer & hopes that by saving the broken horse that she can save her daughter. But what if she is far away from Jack for too long? Will she find comfort in the mysterious shaggy blonde horse whisperer with the piercing ocean blue eyes? Please give it a go :) xxx


If You Wait Chapter 1

Who knows what woke her that morning? It might have been a fleeting shadow that passed through the young girls dreams, maybe the bird sounds or just the sunlight streaming in through her open curtains. She was unsure what could have possibly woken her up on the least likely of mornings.

Her alarm clock showed her that she still had two hours before she had to get up. The red glow of the numbers almost made her reconsider her choice of getting up, but it was already done She was too awake now.

She picked up a pen & wrote on a sheet of paper:

_**Gone riding, be back around 9. Love S**_

The morning was crisp & dark, but not as dark as it should have been, a strange mist sat across the paddocks, their little red barn & the six small cherry trees that her father & her had planted together last year. She listened. The silence that surrounded her was different also, expectant, like the pause between the intake of breath & the uttering of words. As she mustered up the confidence to leave her nice warm room she pulled her coat on & opened the window, sliding carefully down the drain pipe & landing on the ground with a soft thud. It turns out that the strange fog was covering the snow that was laying beneath it. It was the first snow of winter.

Frost had formed across the kitchen windows & she shivered, not from the cold, but the excitement that for just a moment, this perfect world was all hers.

Scarlett Simon had come from Los Angeles the night before with her father. She always enjoyed the trip, jus the two of them, talking about everything & anything.

She liked having him to herself.

Her mother, as usual, had work & would be coming down to the farm later that weekend. The slow LA traffic would make her irritable & grumpy & as usual she would take it out on Jack, Scarlett's father. He would shoot Scarlett little eye rolls & glances whenever she snapped at him. Their relationship had long been mystery to her, rather than get involved she just plugged in her iPod & shut them out.

Scarlett had made the trip down to the farm with her mother once, on the train. Kensi, Scarlett's mother had worked the whole trip & had remained undistracted & undistractable for the whole thing.

Scarlett shook the annoyance from her head & slid her riding boots on, heading to the little red barn. Just as she had gotten inside & closed the door she could hear someone running to the barn, the large wooden door were smashed open, revealing Scarlett's best friend Cordelia, or Delia for short.

"Oh my god! We have to go riding today it is snowing & oh my god it is so perfect & oh my god! Hurry up! I've already got Banjo out of her stable, what is taking so long?!" the impatient blonde announced in all of about five seconds.

"Let me go & get Sunshine, then we can go." Scarlett replied.

"Quick, quick, quick, quick! Scarlett!"

"I'm going, I'm going."

Cordelia impatiently tapped her boot against the wooden floor, the thumping getting muffled by the hay.

"Hey Sunshine…" The horse's ears pricked, sensing something different about the dawn.

Scarlett finally got Sunshine out of the barn, ready to ride with Cordelia & Banjo. Banjo was a soft-eyed & was a beautiful chestnut colour, whereas Sunshine was so dark that in some lights he looked black, the horse always had a stony eyed look about him.

Her parents had gotten him for her birthday last year, although they were worried that he was too big & too young for her, it was love at first sight.

When they first met he ran over to the fence that she was standing behind. He didn't let her touch him, he just sniffed her hand, brushing it lightly with his whiskers before he tossed his head like some haughty prince & ran off. His attitude remained the same & she loved it.

The pair set off, slowly creeping up the winding snow covered track on the way to the ridge, letting the horses choose the pace. Cordelia & Banjo were in front, she twisted around & propped herself up on cantle of Banjo's saddle.

"You should put him in a circus, he is a natural clown." She said as she started to laugh.

Scarlett was laughing too hard to reply, Sunshine was walking with his head down, pushing his nose through the snow like a shovel. Then he would toss a load of it into the air with a sneeze & break into a little bit of a trot.

"Come on now you, that's enough." Scarlett said with a smile as she reigned him back in.

Banjo continued on, moving her head in time with her legs, undeterred by the antics of the horse behind her.

Normally the girls did a large loop, giving the horses a canter & then heading home. But they both wanted more than that today. They decided to do something that they had only done once before. When Scarlett still had Finley, a stocky palomino, they had ridden into the next valley, cut down through the forest & come back home along the creek. It involved crossing some roads, but Sunshine seemed to have settled down & it was early on Saturday, there wouldn't be much about anyway.

They rode down the valley, the horses carefully placed their feet, Banjo's foot slipped out from underneath her, but she corrected herself without any panic & they rode on. The sun was rising high above the clouds & made the trees cast crazed patters across the snow. Relief filled them when they got to the bottom & the girls shot each other a smile.

"I don't remember it being so steep…" Scarlett said as she let out a sigh of relief.

"It's not, I think we are two miles south of the way we got down last time."

"We're going to have to follow the old mill road to get back to the river."

"Yeah good thinking."

The Old Mill road had long been abandoned ever since a more direct route from the highway was built.

The old Mill road was easy to ride on & the girl & the horses relaxed.

Scarlett could hear a rumble up a head, thinking it was just a snow plough they continued on, the soft snow beneath the horse's feet.

They finally reached the place they were looking for, a tunnel that supported the old railway lines, the lines had been shut down, but the tunnel still stood. Tall side walls filled with concrete with no roof.

Cordelia went first, steering Banjo into the concrete. She took a few steps & stopped.

"Come on girl, it's okay." She reassured the horse, stroking her side quickly.

The horse gently pawed at the snow, testing it.

"Come on lazy bones, let's go." She said with a kick to the horses sides. Banjo started to walk up the steep slope, but she was not happy.

Scarlett sat & waited for the all clear, vaguely aware that the sound of the snow plough was getting louder.

"How is it Cordelia?"

"It's fine."

Scarlett nudged Sunshine to the entrance, & together they started the hike up.

Banjo & Delia were almost up the embankment when Cordelia let out a shriek. Had the girls ridden there more recently they would've known that the slope they were climbing in the summer had been flowing with water. Blankets of snow were covering a sheet of sheer ice. Banjo staggered, trying to find her footing, but each foot failed to hold, her rear legs flew out from under her, she went down to one knee, one of her forelegs skewing sideways & began to slide down the embankment.

Cordelia cried out as she was flung forward, losing a stirrup, she grabbed onto the horses neck & managed to stay on.

Scarlett was transfixed. She couldn't move.

"Get out of the way Scarlett!" Cordelia yelled

Scarlett tried to turn Sunshine back down the slope, but he was frightened & fighting her. He took several steps to the left before he too skidded & nickered in alarm. They were now directly in the path of Cordelia & Banjo.

Banjo hit them, but what Scarlett noticed wasn't the crunching thud of the collision, but the roar of the snowplough that was getting way too loud to be on another street. Cordelia lost her grip & was flung from the horse, before twisting & smacking into the steep slope like a rag doll. The two riders & their horses continued down the slope, Cordelia bouncing down the slope, her foot twisted in her stirrup, locking her in.

What Scarlett though was a snow plough, was actually a truck. The driver saw them as soon as he came around the bend. In surprise, he slammed on the breaks. The large eighteen wheeler truck jolted as the breaks locked & began its dismount down the icy slope, straight towards the riders.

Scarlett grabbed Sunshine's reins, trying to snap him out of the frightened trance he was in. She got his attention for a brief second before the two horses started to panic, feeding off each other's worry.

The dead weight of the truck careened towards the bridge, hitting the concrete wall, letting off an amazing amount of sparks. The trailers momentum over took the cab. He made eye contact with a black horse, the rider was just a little girl, he panicked when he saw another horse, the rider was being dragged along by her foot, head smashing into the ground.

The black horse lunged at him, clearing the grill & smashing into the glass window, with a crack. The driver smashed his fist against the glass, only to meet the crazed eyes of the horse, blood everywhere & its mouth frothing. The black horse was stuck on the hard metal of the grill but all the driver could think of was the girl that was riding him.

Where was she?

God she must be down there in front of him.

The trailer overtook the cab, flinging the horse from the hood. The driver thought he saw the rider being dragged by her foot look up at him. Startling blue eyes locked with his before the trailer swept her & her chestnut horse into the cab, like a butterfly being killed in a book, but with a thunderous cry of metal.


End file.
